What do you drink to celebrate?

[nico]

. . . because I just found out that I've been accepted to the best (and oldest) dental school in the country at the University of Maryland

So what do you drink when have awesome, life changing news and want to live it up a little?



useless facts: It's also the dental school that Doc Holiday attended and about a block away from Edgar Allan Poe's grave and the setting of "Jack the Body Snatcher."

[Greg Levy]

Yeah...but's it's till in Maryland, isn't it?  :p

Or, I could just be jealous because you are going to be a dentist.  

My wife and I tend to like the sweeter more fruity(and, pleasently cheaper) libations.  A simple Martine and Rossi Asti will do for me.  

Now, if you were buying...well, I still like the Asti.

Congratualtions to you.

greg

[nico]

Thanks!  yeah, I'll still be in Maryland, but when I get out I'll be practicing in the red part.

[Fjolnirsson]

Hmm. Either a good, quality mead, or Cap'n and Coke with a dash of Wild Turkey.

Congrats.

[Sindawe]

Congrats on being accepted to the School of the Spanish Inqu- um I mean DENTAL SCHOOL!  To celebrate, do the following.

1. Coat your teeth with a weak sulfuric acid solution (battery acid cut 1:10 will work great for this)

2. Obtain some jumbo sesame seeds, or poppy seeds will do in a pinch.  Cram as many of the seeds as you can between all of your teeth.  Use floss or toothpicks to ensure the maximum number of seeds have been placed.  Repeat acid application.

3. Using a dental probe, finishing nail or even an unbent paper clip, probe the depth of your gingival pocket (or whatever its called) on all teeth.  Replace any dislodged seeds.  Repeat acid applicaiton.

4. Mix up a big O'll batch of the quick setting dental gook used for taking impressions.  Make sure you use some really foul flavor, like Orange-Cherry.  Stuff a good double handfull of the stuff into your upper jaw, making sure that lots ot the stuff is resting on your soft palette to induce gagging and choking repsonse.  Leave in place for step 5.

5. Lay on the recliner with your head at the lowest point possibe, so all the blood flows back into your head.  Remain there for at least two hours.  Repeat acid application.

6. After two hours, remove dental gook, seeds and any left over acid wash.  Using an emery string or stone cutting line, floss teeth AGGRESSIVELY.  Rinse/spit.

7. Pour yourself a big snifter of some fine single malt Scotch Wiskey, enjoy while contemplating the joys of putting your future patents though the above ordeal while getting paid to do so.
============

Kidding aside, kewl beans on getting into the Dental School.  The Wiskey suggesting is legit, or some fine microbrewed ale will also fill the bill.  Sierra Nevada Brewery has this years Expedition of their Bigfoot Barely Wine style brew in the shoops now.  Good stuff!!

[Greg Levy]

Upon reflection, I don't think I could be a dentist.  Wouldn't it get depressing that no one is every happy to see you?  I mean, let's face it...has anyone every been HAPPY to go to a dentists office?

greg

[nico]

Actually priv8ter, you'd be surprised.  My dad is a dentist and has plenty of good patients.  In fact, depending on how the practice is run, it's not at all untealistic to have a majority of the patients be cool.  Then again, it does have one of the highest suicide rates among graduate professions.  But it's gotta be better than proctology.  

That reminds me of a story my dad told me a couple years ago.  He was working at an office that accepted a lot of HMOs and medical assistance (which tend to be the worst patients).  One woman came in with a really nasty attitude, complaining from the time she walked in.  My dad tried to go through the usual "Hi, how are you?" routine.  Her response was "terrible.  I hate the dentist!  I'd rather go to the gynecologist."  To that, he said "well turn around.  I can do that too."    

A lot of people are surprised when I tell them I want to be a dentist and, honestly, if my dad weren't a dentist I probably wouldn't   have picked it as a career.  I started out wanting to go to med school, but there are a few major reasons for my choice.  From what I've seen, dental students seem to get treated better than med students.  The other, more significant reason is that general dentistry is a lot more hands on than general medicine.  For me, that just makes it more interresting.  Also, not to sound greedy, but it's easy, relatively speaking, to live very comfortably as a dentist and it's good to know that when I have kids my wife will have the option of staying at home with them for as long as she likes.  Making good money ($100k isn't an unreasonable starting salary) in a profession you like is something that I don't think anybody could turn down, even if it does take 8 years of busting your butt after high school.  Getting accepted makes me relieved as much as it makes me happy because, honestly, there isn't anything else I would have wanted to do with my degree.  I've worked in a lab since high school, and although I've met a lot of cool people and had the opportunity to work on a handful of studies, a career in research just isn't for me.

[Phantom Warrior]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't medical malpractice costs a lot lower for dentists too?

[nico]

I think they are a little lower, partially because there's less of a monopoly over carriers, but malpractice is still one of the negative aspects of dentistry.  iirc, in Maryland there's one medical malpractice carrier but there's a couple dental carriers.  Like medical malpractice though, the rates go up the longer you practice because the number of potential lawsuits is constantly increasing.  Also like with medicine, malpractice carriers aren't very likely to fight a claim, no matter how ridiculous it is.  It's almost always better for their bottom line to settle a malpractice suit.  But it's only slightly less bad for the doctor to settle a malpractice suit than it is to lose in court.  Either way there's a black mark on their record for the rest of their career, regardless of whther there was any actual wrongdoing.    
   
From a business aspect, one of the main advantages of dentistry over medicine is that HMOs and PPOs aren't as widespread.  If you're in a decent area, it's not difficult to run a fee for service (no insurance) practice.  My dad is trying to open his practice (in Ellicott City for any local folks looking for a dentist) in the next couple months and he's only planning on accepting a handfull of insurance plans, maybe 1 or 2 PPOs, and no HMOs.  It sounds greedy, but the way HMOs work, you lose money (meaning it costs you money, not that you make less of a profit) every time an HMO patient comes in for an appointment and the same is true for a lot of PPOs, although they're better than HMOs.  Practices that accept a lot of HMOs tend to either give a different standard of care for HMO patients, which is not only unethical, it's illegal and a breach of contract with the HMO, or they give everybody the same mediocre care.

[...has left the building.]

Any drink that can be lit on fire

[Schuey2002]

Water with a splash of H2O mixed in for ____'s and giggles.

[charby]

Drink to celebrate I gues if your mission is to get 3 sheets to the wind then:

Cheap beer in mass quantities, shots too like snakebites and red headed sluts (a girl buddy likes the later one and always buys a round)

If not just want a drink or two, a nice bourbon on the rocks, or a single malt scotch is nice.

[Holly76201]

Congrats, Nico! And go out and get a bottle of Dark Horse Champagne to celebrate. Or try a Cap'n Cinnamon Coke Kiss. 1/3 Cap'n Morgan spiced rum, 1/3 Cinnamon schnapps, and 1/3 coke. I know it sounds atrocious, nut it's actually quite good, esp if you like cinnamon.


OK, Charby, I'll bite. What's a Red Headed Slut?

[Mabs2]

Doc Holiday is one of my heroes (kinda ^.^).  Sounds like a great place.
I'm against alcohol (for myself that is, you go ahead, and leave me alone), but I'll have to reccomend whiskey. =p

[charby]

OK, Charby, I'll bite. What's a Red Headed Slut?

Red Headed Slut

1 oz peach schnapps
1 oz Jagermeister
cranberry juice

Repeat until drunk...

[Antibubba]

Maybe a sip or two of ether?  

Priv8ter, I happen to like my dentist.  Very little pain, and she's the best dentist I've ever been to-my crowns are works of art!